Macenstein has asked the question I've been pondering the last few days, remind me again why we want an ultra portable? The biggest rumor that I've seen of what's incoming at macworld in a week is that Apple will be releasing an ultra portable, touch based system that is whafer thin. From the Macenstein article:
For some reason I am just missing the allure of a wafer thin MacBook, and I would like someone out there to set me straight. What am I missing here?
Anyone remember Origami, the Microsoft UMPC? They had a great advertising campaign which seemed to peter out as soon as it was released. Has anyone heard anything about UMPC in the "real" media since then?
Anyway, the same goes, IMHO, for an apple device. Yes, the apple touchscreen from the iPhone and iPod Touch is fantastic and could be an improvement over the pen based interface, and the on-screen keyboard and predictive typing that those devices have could be useful on such a device. Isn't this a solution looking for a problem? Macenstein goes through what the current Apple offerings have, where the holes are and aren't, cost thoughts, etc.
I have to agree, it's a supremely cool idea, but I can't see it being hugely useful outside a couple of minor areas.
We'll see in a week I guess. I personally am prepared to be totally disappointed by this years MacWorld.